1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios Assembly Part V

Last post prior to this could be found here. This build session focused mainly on the construction of the Gundam Kyrios' head. Prior to painting a layer of plastic paint primer was applied to the parts of the head.

Cheapest place to buy a VF-27 Lucifer Online

The cheapest online store to buy a 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer seems to be at HWJapan, thanks in part to an ongoing sale. Compared to other sites, HWJapan is selling their's for only Y3,849 yen, or roughly 30% off from the sticker price. And that is considering that Macross Frontier is such a hot anime franchise right now because of the recent release of the movie, Macross Frontier merchandise shouldn't be going on sale right now.

But I wouldn't go right away to buying the Lucifer from them without checking the other online sellers. That's because the difference in handling fees and shipping could still spell the difference.

History of Yamato Toy's Macross Line 2000-2002

Its hard to believe that Yamato Toys has been producing for almost 10 years already toys from the Macross Franchise. What started it all was the 1/72 YF-19 of Isamu Dyson from the Macross Plus series that was initially released in July of 2000 then followed in December by the 1/72 YF-22 of Guld Goa Bowman. Both of which were capable of transforming to the 3 states of Fighter, Gerwalk and Battroid. And I have to say that building a real life miniature replica toy from its line art that is capable of transforming to three different states is no simple feat and speaks greatly of the skill employed by the folks at Yamato Toys.

From there they expanded their line to 1/60 and 1/48 scale. Then they added the Valkyries of the original Macross and the Macross Zero VF's. They also made the small scale, non transforming GNU line up. More recently also they branched out by including the non-VF Destroids from the original Macross series then this year they started producing VF's from the Macross Seven series.

Model Kit Surviving a Fall

I saw my unfinished Gundam Kyrios on the floor when I woke up. The Kyrios had just experienced a 5 ft fall from the shelf to the marble tiled floor. I immediately picked it up to check if there were any damage or parts missing. I saw the gun hand a few feet away from the Kyrios. The force of the impact had knocked the hand out of its socket. As of first glance I'm not seeing any scratches nor missing parts.

1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios Assembly Part IV

A lot has happened already since my last post, but I'm still taking my time. The main limiter has been the painting of the black stripes in the kit. Mainly those found in the wing parts, ankles and front pelvic plate. It would have been easier to have just hand painted it, but I wanted the smooth surface that could only be hand by spray painting.

Macross Chronicle 36, 37 and 38

Posted over at the Macross Frontier blog was the announcement of the release of issues 36, 37 and 38 of the Macross Chronicle. The Macross Chronicles are a series of magazines that gives further detail into the workings of the Macross Universe. From the people, to the mecha to the every day workings of life in the Macross Universe. Whatever is mentioned here can be considered as being "Official."

Macross Chronicle #36 is scheduled to be released by November 26th. A preview of the articles found in it are:

Included in the issue is a poster of the Macross Frontier Movie that was first shown in theaters last November 21.

Bandai's Gundam Clear Parts Campaign

Update 02/03/2010: Second line up Master Grade model kits with clear parts found here.

I was wondering a few weeks ago why Amiami was having for pre-order some Master Grade Kits with Clear parts. Turns out that this is all part of the Gundam Franchise's 30th Anniversary. Its called the Gundam Clear Parts campaign wherein, like mentioned above, some master grade kits will be offered up with clear parts so that the hobbyist can show case his Gundam kit with the inner frame visible.

1/60 GN-001 Gundam Exia

Update (03/29/2010): Translated English Manual and Color Guide can be found here.

Just arrived for me today from the post office, the 1/60 GN-001 Gundam Exia kit of Bandai that I ordered from HWJapan. Right now I can't get to working on it just yet because I'm still finishing the 1/100 Gundam Kyrios from Bandai. I had however translated the Color Guide for the Gundam Exia to English in preparation for the arrival of this kit. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to translate these color guides, considering that I don't have a working airbrush set yet... hehehe. I do have the airbrush, its the compressor thats still way out of reach for my budget.

New shots of the 1/2000 Macross SDF-1 HDP Prototype

Update:: Found out that this available at HLJ, but you have to contact them directly by email because of the price.

More updated shots of the 1/2000 Macross SDF-1 Prototype resin kit by Yamato Toys. Price for the kit is still an eye opening 210,000 yen. Based from my understanding of the literature, they will only be able to produce 10 kits per month of this behemoth.

If you find the price too steep, you can always try building your own Macross SDF1 using everyday materials found in your hardware store.

1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios Assembly Part III

Picking up where I left off from here. Still having fun and taking my time in my build of the 1/100 GN-003 Kyrios of Allelujah Haptism.

Finished already the fuselage portion of the Kyrios that gives it its plane like shape when transformed. Green metallic foil sticker was provided by Bandai for the "cockpit" area.

Macross Frontier Movie Spoilers

Looking for spoilers from the recently shown Macross Frontier Movie: Itsuwari no Utahime? Check out the Macross Frontier movie section at Macross World. There are a lot of sources for spoilers there as well as news on the opening night.

1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios Assembly

Continuing the build of the 1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios model kit. Accomplished a lot today because of the weather, which made painting viable. If you base it on the manual however, I've only reached page 2 of a 9 page build manual. Or more accurately, about 22% finished.

1/100 GN-003 Gundam Kyrios Build and English Translation of Color Guide

Will start building Allelujah Haptism's - Gundam Kyrios. The Kyrios I'm working on is the 1/100 non-grade made by Bandai. Here's a shot of the box opened.

Play Asia Discount Coupon

Just received a Christmas "gift" from Play Asia in my inbox. And it was two discount coupons for use in their site. The coupon is valid till 2009 only and can be used only once. What I don't like about the coupon though is that you have to reach a certain purchase threshold in order to get the discount...blehh

1/72 VF-27 Lucifer Color Guide

Update: English Translated manual for the 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer of Brera Stern can be found here.

Color guide for Brera Stern's VF-27 Lucifer that he flew as squadron leader of Macross Galaxy's Antares Squadron which was beatifully rendered as a 1/72 model kit by Bandai. The Japanese color guide was once again taken from Hobby Search then translated to English by us. The kit comes with a Ranka Lee figure, hence there is a part in the color guide with regards to its coloring.

Commercial Enamel Paints on Model Kits

Update: Just found out that the paint component that you have to watch out for is Toluene, too much of this thinner material is what eats the plastic.

Wanted to try out another type of paint because the Pylox brand I was using was starting to get expensive. The local hardware store I bought it from had raised their prices by a staggering 60%. Plus of course I wanted to try out some other colors which Pylox didn't have. Once again my test subject was the Bootleg Gundam Dynames.

Particle Respirator Mask

Finally bought a particle respirator mask for me to use during my painting activities. I only got the single cartridge half mask type instead of the usual double cartridge. It cost me about $8 tops. The filter had to be bought separately from the mask.

Hobby Search Now Accepting Paypal and removes ban on select countries

Update 11/19/2009:Spoke too soon. Turns out that there is a problem with Hobby Search and Paypal, so they had to cancel all orders that were to be paid via paypal. Of course, since I was in one of the banned countries that Hobby Search will only allow to pay via paypal, shopping is officially stopped for me till their troubles are fixed.

Hobby Search just posted today that they are now accepting payment via Paypal. When paying with Paypal, Hobby Search will send you a payment request via email as soon as your items are ready to be shipped. More details about this can be found here.

Surgical Gloves for Painting Model Kits

I'm now using the pack of vinyl gloves that I bought before for resin casting in my model kit painting activities. I prefer the vinyl over traditional latex rubber gloves because I find it much cooler and less constricting. Its also an alternative glove for people who are allergic to rubber gloves. Here I am testing out the gloves in the painting booth using some left over model parts as a test subject.

Macross Frontier Movie this weekend

Was perusing the Official MacrossF blog and saw a post showing trains at the Yamanote Line having Macross Frontier Movie posters by their doors.

Robot Spirits Quadluun Rea

Scheduled for release this month is the Robot Spirits rendition of the Quadluun Rea of Klan Klan from the Macross Frontier Series. Its supposed to retail for 3360 yen but Amiami is selling theirs for only 2340 yen (shipping not included).

Robot Spirits VF-25F Messiah [SIDE VF]

According to the Robot Spirits blog, due out today is the Robot Spirits VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie of Alto Saotome in the Macross Frontier Anime series. It looks cool enough and extremely pose able. I hope its not as crappy complicated as the VF100 VF-25F Messiah though. Retail price is 2800 yen. Amiami is selling this for 2040 yen only.

Review of Amiami

Just received a shipment notice from Amiami for the item I ordered. The long wait for my package to arrive starts now. Amiami is one of the Japanese based online hobby shops I’ve been lusting to start selling overseas because of the large inventory that they have, and most importantly, the low prices they offer.

Original Japanese Anime vs English Dubbed

I only found out today that there really is value in watching the original Japanese version of the anime versus one that has already been dubbed to English or another language. This realization hit me after watching both the Japanese and English version of Gundam 00 Season 1. The main benefit is that you get the original story versus one that has been edited and censored for North American audiences. Yep, there are some scenes in Japanese Anime that can't get through censors easily so they can't help but edit it out rather than risk the entire show.

Pylox Aerosol Lacquer Color Guide

Update 12/06/2009: I've noticed a problem with some of the Pylox paints (not just the fire red mentioned below) being easily stripped from the model kit the only remedy I found to be effective to prevent this is to use a primer first on the surface.

Was at the hardware store a few days ago and finally decided to take a picture of the Color Guide for the Pylox Aerosol Lacquer paints made by Nippon Paints for reference when I get home. Saves having to have to go to the hardware store all the time to check on the available paints. I've been using these spray paints to color my model kits due to lack of modelling paints in my region.

Making Shelf Space

I gave in to my anal retentive side and started making space for my modest model kit and toy collection. The reason being because I saw that the shelf which originally held the collection was starting to look like this.



The Rick Dias is almost over the edge along with the VF-25G Messiah. I'm a bit scared that a quake might knock it over the edge or it can be easily grabbed by my son who likes to look at them. Of course in times of earth quake one must value life over his collection *snicker*

Gundam Astray Blue Frame Color Guide

While waiting for my order to arrive from Hobby World Japan that includes a 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame and a 1/100 Gundam Astray Blue Frame, I decided to prepare by translating the color guide of the Gundam Astray Red Frame into English from Japanese.



I guess it would only be logical to go the Full Monty by translating also the color guide of the Gundam Astray Blue Frame into English. So I went on over to Hobby Search again and downloaded the color guides from the product pages of the 1/100 Gundam Astray Blue Frame and the Master Grade Gundam Astray Blue Frame.

1/60 DX Bandai VF-27 Lucifer for pre-order

Just saw this recently, that the 1/60 DX Chogokin VF-27 Lucifer of Brera Stern is up for pre-order already at various online shops. HLJ's pre-order price is Y15,200 (regular price is 16000) but over at Amiami its only 11,720 yen. HWJapan is offering it up for 13600 yen. The difference now between Amiami and HWJapan is the cost of shipping to your area. The DX VF-27 is expected to be shipped by February 2010. The suggested retail price of Bandai for the DX VF-27 Lucifer is 16,000 yen

Amiami accepting SAL Shipping

Amiami just announced that they are doing a test run on "SAL Registered" shipping due to user requests. This is a few days after launching their English site. The catch though is that on top of the normal SAL fee there will be a 700 yen handling fee. To procedure for requesting for SAL shipping is to write "Request for SAL Registered shipping if possible" during the order process. Some countries such as Korea and Taiwan do not have SAL shipping.

1/60 DX Chogokin VF-27 Lucifer and VF-25 Tornado Messiah

Update 11/11/2009: The 1/60 DX VF-27 Lucifer is up for pre order already at various online shops.

This was posted a few days ago at Hobby Stock and I totally missed it. Pictures of the Bandai DX Chogokin (Hyper Alloy) 1/60 VF-27 Lucifer of Brera Stern as seen in the Macross Frontier TV series. Samples of the DX VF-27 were seen at the Tamashii Nation Autumn Show.

Here's a shot of what I'm assuming to be an unpainted prototype.

AmiAmi launches English site for Overseas customers

Update 11/11/2009 :Amiami just announced that they will start shipping packages via SAL on a trial basis. Hope its successful so that it will be a permanent service to customers.

On another note, I'm surprised at how quickly stuff is flying off their shelves. Stuff that was listed as for sale are being quickly switched to "back-order" status.

Update 11/10/2009 : Was hoping to purchase from them a Big Scale 1/60 Freedom Gundam so that I can post a review of their service. But upon inquiring I found out that the shipping cost to SE Asia will be 4000 3500 yen (email support updated their price estimate). Yikes, more expensive than the 3,669 yen (26 %off) price of the kit. I hope they start offering SAL shipping soon. The good news is that they replied to my inquiry within the day. They actually recommend that you ask first how much the shipping will be before committing your order.

Just read from Danny Choo's blog that Amiami finally launched an English language site that will cater to the very lucrative overseas customers. Which is great because Amiami could be considered as one of the top online hobby shops in Japan.

What makes Amiami very attractive is their price, its really lower than most Japanese online toy shops. I've noticed that the only time the other online shops get to match their prices is when they go on Sale. Looking at their product pages you can see that almost all their prices are knocked off, I think by as much as 25% even. Take the Pre-order price of the 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer, there its going for only 4030 yen.

DIY Painting Clips Part II

Finally found some alligator clips in a hardware store that I could use to make some painting clips. Previously I had made some painting clips using some mini battery clips. Although it came out well, the price was a tad bit expensive. Using mini alligator clips however, the price for a four pack was just $0.60

Bootleg 1/100 Gundam Dynames

Here's photos of the finished bootleg 1/100 Gundam Dynames that I had bought out of curiosity. Don't worry Bandai, I had already offset it and proved my loyalty by ordering a genuine 1/100 Gundam Dynames. Sorry, but I can't seem to get some good shots with my camera on this model. It must be my subconscious that's resisting, hehehe.



The model will come out as ugly because I used this model to test some paints, markers and techniques, hence no effort was really made to make it look good. One other thing that I can say about this bootleg made by TT Hongli is that the copy comes close but the quality of the plastic is cheap and reflects really on the model.

Gundam Astray Red Frame Color Guide

Yesterday I received confirmation that the 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame and 1/100 Gundam Astray Blue Frame that I had bought from HWJapan was shipped already, yey!

Going Postal - Delays in Postal shipping

I received a "pickup notice" from my postman yesterday indicating that my package had arrived and it was for pickup at the main post office. Weee!, or so I thought.



Just when I was so full of glee that the Gundam 00 kits had arrived from HWJapan, I looked at the strip of paper and noticed that the date was Sept 8, 2009. Heck, that was almost over 2 months ago. Turns out that that was the EMS package from HLJ that contained my VF-25G Messiah.

Bandai Hobby Site schedule of Release and Price list for November 2009

Once again, a tabular list of the items that Bandai Hobby is releasing for November, along with it are the recommended selling prices of the items.

What I'm posting here are just the mecha related new item releases for November, their prices and release dates. You can download the complete PDF file here.

Paint Consumption for a Model Kit

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Was looking at the cabinet where I place my spray paints and was surprised at the amount of inventory I already had. And thats for just 2 model kits built! The large cans are Pylox Lacquer Spray paints from Nippon Paint while the two smaller cans are Gundam Spray paints from GSI Creos. Then there is the lone Gundam Marker. The Pylox can contains about 400 ml of paint while the Gundam spray paints have about 100ml.

Painting Respirator Mask

Hunting for a particle respirator mask right now after my wife reminded me to take care of my lungs. Painting model kits is toxic even if you are doing it outside. Enamel and Lacquer paints are toxic when you inhale them, they say that only the acrylic-water based paints are safe to inhale. Special emphasis on the "acrylic-water based", there is the spray paint acrylic for cars and those things are different from each other with the latter being toxic. Then again I wouldn't want to gamble with water based acrylics being safe either, because they could say "oops, we made a mistake" 20 years down the road.

Bootleg Transformers Toy

Yet another example of how childhood memories are massacred by makers of counterfeit toys... hehehe... Found this in the mall again. I've realized that there are two types of piracy when it comes to cartoon related merchandising. There is the blatant copying and then there is the trying to pass it off as part of the franchise. The picture above is more of the latter.

Finished Shots of the 1/72 VF-25G Messiah

Posting the pictures of the 1/72 VF-25G Messiah of Michael from the Macross Frontier series that I had finished already a while back except for the decaling.



This kinda took the back burner after the arrival of the Master Grade Rick Dias that I was excited to build, but I found some time yesterday evening to finally install the markings. It was a choice between decals and stickers, and I had decided on stickers because it seemed much quicker and less messier. I didn't install all the stickers, only the major ones that fans will notice the most.

Yamato 1/2000 Macross SDF-1 Prototype HDR version

Update:: Found out that this available at HLJ, but you have to contact them directly by email because of the price.

Yamato Toys is offering at their online shop a limited edition Heavy Duty Resin version of the SDF-1 Macross in 1/2000 scale. Hold on to something as the price for this kit is a staggering 210,000 yen. You could say that the price is roughly the minimum order for wholesale orders in most Japanese online stores. The product is expected to be shipped by December of 2009 and will be limited only to their club members. There is a 10,000 yen deposit that has to be paid when making your pre-order.

Remembering Roy Focker

November 2 is All Soul's day for Christians. Its the day that we remember the souls in Purgatory as well as visit the graves of our relatives. In the spirit of the season I'd like to pay tribute to one very dear character in the Macross franchise who had passed away, Roy Focker.

Bandai's 3D Printer for Rapid Prototyping of Model Kits

Here's an interesting find. I was looking at the Bandai Hobby center site and found out that they use the Objet Eden 330 3-D printer for prototyping their Gundam kits during the design phase.

3D printers use CAD data in order to "printout" a rendering of an object in solid plastic. The benefits of this is that it speeds up the design-to-build process by being able to make a prototype that will test the validity of the CAD data before jumping right away to the more expensive process of machining the metal molds. It cuts cost by avoiding costly design mistakes as well as reduces the man-hours needed in designing.